OPEN SPACE-𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕄𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕝𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕒𝕟

S E V E N

Another chapter co-written with my boyfriend, Capcakebw !

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Laesy's eyes shot open. She didn't feel comfortable and barely slept the night after the battle, but when she did sleep she had a nightmare of the raiders. She had been in fights before, but never one where she felt so helpless and an inch away from death. Where she was this scared...the only other time she did was...

No, she told herself, now is not the time to think of that.

She suddenly became thirsty, not for water but for alcohol to drown her sorrows in. She got out of bed, every movement hurt. Her slide last night, while very cool, was not very practical and caused her to be very sore. She got dressed, then looked over at the crib sitting in the corner. The child was soundly cooing as it slept. She wanted to hold it tightly after the night before, it must be so terrified but she thought it was best to let it sleep.

Stepping outside, the sound of everybody cleaning up after the night before filled the air. Laesy noticed instantly that there was a sudden feeling of safety that emanated from everybody she interacted with on her way to the Mandalorian who was investigating the AT-ST. She felt immense pride that she could help and save this village from its tormenters. If only she could have done the same to her town when she was younger, she thought to herself. The thoughts felt like they were drilling a hole into her skull.

"Laesy" The Mandalorian spoke out, knocking Laesy out of her thoughts. "Come have a look."
Laesy came over to the Mandalorian who was investigating the AT-ST's cockpit. "I'm surprised these dirty scum could even pilot this thing."

"Uh, yeah" Laesy spoke quietly, her mind a mess still. "Least they are gone now." The Mandalorian stared at Laesy for a moment, looking like he wanted to say something but held back and looked at the AT-ST.

"Yeah." The Mandalorian said, staring blankly at the AT-ST. The air became very awkward between the two, and was only interrupted when Laesy spoke up.

"I'm, uh, I'm going to go find Cara." She turned around and started walking away. She went there to see how Mando was doing, but the emotions wanted her to run away. She couldn't show her emotions to Mando.

"Laesy...good job." The Mandalorian said in a harsh, but prideful tone. Laesy kept walking, but she immediately felt the weight of the thoughts being lifted off her shoulders. She smiled.

The Mandalorian watched her walk away and letting his gaze run up and down her entire body. That feeling was back and he tried to push it back down to where it couldn't be found.

Finding Cara wasn't hard, she was sitting on a lawn chair on the porch of her hut, sipping spotchka while watching the kids playing. She had spent the night watching to make sure the raiders didn't come back and now got time to sit back and relax.

"Hey Cara." Laesy spoke in a way like she was almost excited to see her.

"Hey Walker Killer. Come have a seat." Cara pointed at a seat next to her. Next to the seat was a table with a bottle of spotchka and a couple of glasses. Laesy took a seat and immediately started to pour herself a glass. "Whoa there, don't drink it all. I'm here too you know."

"Well, like you said I killed the walker. I get the spotchka." Laesy said as she took a sip of the drink. Alcohol, the one thing that gave Laesy happiness and she could feel the bad thoughts being drained away after every sip.

"You did a good job taking out that walker. You would have made a fine rebel soldier." Cara took a sip, a slight smile on her face.

"Thanks." Laesy spoke, only half paying attention to the words coming out of Cara's mouth. She was watching as Omera was putting the child down with the children to play. The joy in its eyes gave a glimmer of hope in Laesy's heart. Laesy slowly watched for a couple of minutes as the child waddled its way around the garden, trying to catch frogs, grab shrimp that had fallen out of baskets, or catch up to the children playing tag.

"Cute little bugger, hey? Omera makes a pretty good mom for the thing." The words stung like a Viper wasp. Laesy took another sip, she could feel herself becoming numb from the alcohol. She was thankful spotchka was so strong, as every sip took away the pain of the words. Every sip also made her side glances at Cara last longer. Until Cara took notice.

"Hey, slow it down there hotshot. It's only the afternoon. We don't need a repeat of last week." Laesy took another sip.

Nobody tells her what to do.

Cara reached for Laesy's wrist to try and stop her from drinking. Laesy grabbed onto her wrist instead and looking over at Cara. Their eyes locked, and stayed there for a few seconds. Laesy felt something start to boil in her chest, she wasn't sure if it was anger or something else. She let go of Cara's wrist and reached for the bottle, maintaining eye contact she poured herself some more spotchka.

__

Cara was right, Laesy did need to slow down so she did. She still had a good buzz but wasn't as drunk as the other night. Her and Cara were still sitting on the porch, enjoying the sunset and resting after the last week of hard work. At this point almost everyone went to bed. The Mandalorian was back in his own cot in their shared hut.

Laesy Yawned, late night and early wake had made her sleepy. She slowly shifted in her seat to get up, and as she got onto her feet Cara stopped her.

"Are you alright? What happened earlier...you weren't your usual self." Cara seemed concerned for once. Laesy stood in front of the chair and pondered what to do. Her mind telling her to run, but her heart wanting to stay. She had never had anybody ask her if she was okay in a long time, and it felt good. A single tear streamed down her cheek. Cara stood up and looked at Laesy. "Its okay, we're alone. What's going on?"

"Last night...I...I just got super afraid. I had been in fights before, fighting for strangers though," she paused and took a deep breath, relaxing her shoulder before continuing. "The past weeks with everyone...you, Mando, and the child. I... I feel protective of you. I didn't want to lose you," Laesy slumped back down into her chair and gazed up at the night sky ever so slowly fading from a beautiful purple and orange to the deep onyx of night. "When that Raider was standing over me with his axe...I thought that was it, I thought I would never be able to see you, and Mando, again." She stopped for a moment as Cara walked in front of her, kneeling down. Her eyes sympathetically peering into her crying eyes. Cara laid her hands on top of Laesy's to comfort her, soothing Laesy's iron grip on the arm of the chair. "And even if I did live, I didn't want to have to go through any of you guys being hurt, or even killed. I lost my family once, I wouldn't be able to handle...." Her words formed a lump in her throat and it got stuck, she was unable to finish her sentence without letting the tears stream down her burning cheeks.

Cara knelt there silently for a moment, while Laesy let it out. Laesy wasn't paying attention until she felt a finger caress her cheek, she flinched. The smooth warmth of Cara's fingers danced on her cheek as she wiped the tears away that had escaped, unnoticed. This calmed Laesy down for a moment, she looked up into Cara's eyes. Cara's hand still on her cheek, the warmth from her hand was emanating down into Laesy's body. Laesy wiped the rest of her tears out of her face, and when she could see again she noticed Cara was closer than before. Their eyes locking, Cara slowly inched her way closer and closer and Laesy followed suit.

Laesy closed her eyes, she knew what was happening and was waiting for it. The suspense danced on her lips, and made her heart race faster and faster. Delicately, more delicately than Laesy could ever think Cara could be, their lips met. The same warmth from Cara's fingers intensified and radiated from her lips, through her whole face, down her neck, and stopped at her core.

Cara deepened the kiss, and brushed her tongue along Laesy's top lip. Instinctively Laesy parted her lips allowing Cara access. Her tongue made slow work of Laesy's mouth. She was reaching every corner in her mouth her tongue, eliciting an uncontrolled moan from Laesy. Cara smiled into the kiss.

Suddenly, Laesy pulled away after becoming hyper away that they were still outside after hearing the sound of clanking metal. Cara now on top of her realized too and slowly backed away, keeping a lustful look at Laesy. Laesy brought her trembling fingertips to her lips and felt the wetness Cara left behind. Her eyes shifted to Cara who was giving a cunning smirk.

"Want to take this inside?" Cara seductively whispered to Laesy. Laesy's eyes widened at the proposition, Laesy's heart yearned to say yes. She wasn't opposed to women or being with a woman. She had many women in the past.

But this was different.

Cara was different.

Mando was different.

Mando.

Her chest tightened and suddenly it became hard for her to breathe. She looked off into the darkness that had now fully descended on the village, faintly making out the shape of the thatched huts. Laesy blinked a few times trying to clear the confusion in her mind. Cara let her hand rest atop Laesy knee and squeezed lightly bringing Laesy's gaze back to hers and pulling her lips into a small smile. 

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Please vote and comment. Honestly, they make my fingers type faster. 

Let me know if you like this chapter better than the others, since this was co-written. We both feel like it's WAY better and plan to continue to write together. 

-Jojo and Bry